Door-hanger



(Model.) 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

` E. Y. MOORE.

v DOOR HANGER. No. 299,156.. Patented May 27, 1884.

(Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. E. Y. MOORE.

DOOR HANGER.

No. 299,156. Patented' May 27, 1884.

N. PEYERS. Phnnrlmcgnpber, wnhingaon. D. CA

liniirnn drames EDVARD Y. MOORE, lOFOITIIOAGO, ILLINOIS.

DOORN-HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 299,156, dated May 27, 1884.

Application filed February 1S, 18S-1. (Model) To aZ whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD Y. Moons, of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of' Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Hangers; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of the several features of my invention.

My said improvements relate, mainly, to that class of hangers which are known as adj ustable door-hangers,77 because of their capacity to vary the vertical adjustment of a door with relation to the rail from which the door is suspended. Certain other portions of my improvements are limited to what are known as double-roller hangers, and relate to a novel construction of anti-friction bearings therein; and these are not dependent upon the adjustable features referred to. In all prior hangers ofthe adjustable class,screwbolts have been employed. In some cases said bolts are wholly relied upon as supporting-links between the door and the rail, and in other cases the supporting-strains have been partially borne by inclined ways and partially by the adj ustingscrews.

One portion of my invention consists in an inclined supporting-way of such an angle to the top of the door or to a horizontal line that the supporting-strain will be borne wholly by said way; or, in other words, my inclined way is an inverted inclined plane which is atan angle of repose, so that the weight of the door cannot cause a sliding movement of' the parts of the hanger which have coincidently inclined surfaces in contact. Adjustable hangers embodying this portion of' my invention may or may not be provided with adj listing-screws as will be hereinafter fully described.

Another portion of my invention consists in the combination, with al hanger, of an adjusting-screw which has a thrust or inverted step bearing, and is limited to a rotative movement, and resists whatever strain it may be subjected to by a longitudinal thrust into its stepbearing, as distinguished from the tensile strain which is borne by the heads of screw-bolts as heretofore employed in door-hangers. rIhis feature of my invention is of special value in hangers which embody an inclined way, in most of which as heretofore organized heavy strains are borne by the heads of the adjusting screw-bolts, although in some cases adjusting-nuts have been employed on rotative and on non-rotative screw-bolts; but I know of no hanger prior to my present invention in which a rotative adjusting screw or screw-bolt is provided with a thrust-bearing or step at one end of the screw, and a guide-bearing at the other end. In a hanger having the inclined way as constructed by me I employ an adjusting-screw provided with the thrust or step bearing described, and said screw, for the first time in such a combination, is, as I believe, subjected to no supporting-strain whatever, an d is relied upon merely for changing the relations ofthe adjustable parts of the hanger, and even the slight adj Listing-strain to which my screw is subjected is borne or resisted by it at its step-bearing. My hanger also embodies an inclined way which is novel in its construction, in that it is an inclined raccway having a guideslot extending from end to end of the raceway, and also having a lateral supporting-flange at either or both sides of said slot throughout its length', and such a raceway, in combination with a roller-bearing having a shank fitted to slide to and fro in said guideslot, and provided with an inclined lateral flange or flanges for engaging with the inclined raceway, constitutes another feature of my invention. I also construct my hangerplate in two parts, joined together on aline with the guide-slot and raceway, so that the bearing-shank may be provided with an integral inclined iianged block, and inseparably connected with the hanger-plate when its two parts are joined, as by screws, bolts, or rivets. My hanger-plate may be provided with proj ecting iianges at its lower edge, and provided with screw-holes for enabling it to be attached to a door; but as a novel feature in construction I provide my hanger-plate with straight lateral fianges, and employ in combination therewith a longitudinally slotted and flanged base-plate provided with holes for the reception of screws, by which said base-plate is first secured to thel top edge of' a door and then IOO Y united to the hanger-plate. Another novel feature in my hanger has Value in matter of economy in manufacture, and is limited to double rollers provided with anti friction bearings, and is independent of the adjustable features; and it consists in a flattened bearingshank circularly cut through from side to side to afford the annular walls of a chamber for the reception of friction-rollers, in combination with a pair of hanger-rollers having inner sides, which serve as the sidewalls of said chamber and confine the friction-rollers therein. Certain other minor features consisting of ,specic novel combinations will be set forth in detail in the claims hereunto annexed. I embody all of these novel features in my hanger when produced in its best form; but it will be obvious that many of said features may be employed independently of others in hangers more or less widely varied in construction.

To more particularly describe my invention I will refer to the accompanying drawings, in

which Figure lis a side elevation of a pair of my hangers complete as applied to a sliding door. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of my hangers, with a portion of the inclined way broken away at each end to disclose the housings of the adjusting-screw. Fig. 8 is a top or plan view of the same. Fig. 4 is a vertical vlateral section of my hanger on line x, Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the roller-bearing shank or link detached. Fig.-6 is a perspective view of the two halves of the hanger-plate detached. Fig. 7 is a top and side view of the base -plate detach-ed. Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively front and edge views of a roller-hanger as organized for application to the side of a door, and embodying certain features of my invention. Figs. l() and 1l are respectively front and edge views of a roller-hanger embodying only that feature of my invention which relates to the adjusting-screw and its inverted step-bearing.

As shown in Figs. lto 7, inclusive, all of the features of my invention are embodied in hangers as constructed by me for first-class inside work, as for parlor-doors.

The hanger-plate A, as here shown, is arranged to be used with a base-plate, B. At the lower edge of the hanger-plate there is at each side a laterally-projecting flange, a, and the base-plate has a series of vertical lugs,- b, in two rows, which afford between them alongitudinal slot as wide as the thickness of the hanger-plate above its flange n; and all of said lugs on theirinner side are recessed, as at b',

to afford, in substance, a'longitudinal slot for the snug reception of the hanger-plate flange when inserted endwise therein. At one end of the base-plate the slot is practically obstructed, so that the hanger-plate must be entered at the opposite end, and for securing it therein a vertical stop-pin, b2, or a nail is inserted in ahole, b, in the'base-plate. This construction admits of the separate attachment of the base-plate to the top edge of a door by means of screws applied at the countersunk holes bL at various Vpoints in the bottom of the base-plate, and with the hanger already mounted on its rail the door can then 7o be placed in` position and conveniently connected therewith.

Broadly considered, it is not new to so construct a door-hanger that one portion thereof can be appliedto the door separately from the portion which is connected withthe rollers, in order that the roller portion may be first mounted upon the rail, and then the door, with the other portion attached, raised, placed in position, and the two portions of the hanger united for service; but the laterally-flanged hanger-plate, in combination with the baseplate, longitudinally slotted, laterally recessed, and provided with screw-holes, by which it is attached tothe door, is believed to be a novel and valuable feature. Y

In its best form the hanger-plate is con-A structed in two equal parts, which,when bolted fiatwise together, afford between them a longitudinal inclined raceway or channel, c,which is accessible at the top thereof by the longitudinal guide-slot c. The roller-aXle-bearing shank C has at its lower end a block, d,- connected to or integral therewith. As shown, said block is integral with the shank, and is developed thereon by an inclined groove cut in each side of the shank, which affords inclined lateral flanges, so that when said block is placed between the two parts of the hangerplate and these latter are bolted or riveted together, as shown, the block is permanently housed in the raceway, but is free t0 be moved longitudinally therein.

It will be seen that on each side ofthe guideslot there is a lateral supporting-liangc, c, which extends throughout the length of said slot, and that it is this flange which is in supporting-contact with the upper or inclined surface of the block which constitutes the lower end ofthe bearing-shank, and also that each side of the raceway, by contact with said block, serves to confine the bearing-'shank to the vertical plane occupied by the hangerplatc, although said bearing-shank can be moved freely from one end of the guide-slot c to the other.

XVhen the hanger is in use, the lower edge of the base-plate is practically horizontal,and the inclination of the raceway c to said lower edge as a base-line is what may be termed an angle of repose,77 in that the angle is so slight that the frictional contact ofthe inclined block d with the overhanging surfaces of said f raceway is sufficient 4to prevent any sliding movement of either part with reference to the other, so that when a door is suspended. upon such hangers the vertical strain thereon is insufficient to cause any sliding movement ofthe block within the raceway. As here shown,` the inclined way c is at an angle of about fteen'degrees to the horizontal or bottom line of the base-plate. Thi's,with a channel about IOO IIO

six inches long, affords a vertical adjustment of about one inch and a half, which is generally ample for all inside uses, and can generally be relied upon for heavy barn-doors, &c. This angle of repose will be afforded if the inclination be at an angle slightly more than fifteen degrees; but it can seldom,if ever,be equal to or greater than twenty degrees if the raceway be relied upon solely to sustain all vertical strains. In no prior hanger known to me involving the use of inclined lugs and inclined ways therefor has the angle been less than about thirty-eight degrees, and in some cases it is as great as sixty degrees, and therefore this angle of repose may be profitably employed in any hanger wherein two inclined surfaces are in contact, and either is to be moved with reference to the other for purposes of adjustment, because thereby the supporting-strain can be wholly borne by the inclined parts of the hanger thus in contact. It is, however, obvious that a sudden shock or` jar upon a door during or at the termination of its sliding movement will be liable to cause the block to slide within the raceway e, and therefore I employ means for limiting said block to its p sition of adjustment.

As shown in Fig. 8, the side walls of the inclined way c are provided with transverse pinholes e3, so that when the adjustment has been made, after wedging up a door from its sill, small pins or nails c* can be entered at each end ofthe block and driven into the door for confining said block in position; and when it is desirable to lower a door,these nails or pins are readily withdrawn, the block moved by hand up the incline to the Jroper point, and the nails or pins reinserted? In this saine type of hanger, however, an at justing-screw can be employed within the channel in the same manner as in the parlor-door hanger shown in Figs. l to 7. The adjusting-screw e is unlike any screw employed in any prior adjustable hanger known to me, in that it performs no supporting function, but serves as a means for moving the parts with reference to each other and limits the bearing-block to its position of adjustment, whereas in all priorhangers more or less of the weight of the door is borne by the adj Listing-screw, which has therefore heretofore been a screw-bolt and subjected to more or less tensile strain upon the head thereof; and in many prior hangers,when under adjustment, the head of the bolt carries more or less of the weight of the door, and in some of them the entire weight, while in another class of hangers the screws bear all the weight of the door upon their threads, rotating nuts being used therewith in lieu of heads. At the upper end of the raceway c the screw is provided with an end bearing or seat, c, wherein the tip of the screw loosely revolves, as in an inverted step or pivot hearing, and at the opposite or lower end the screw has a guide-bearing, e2, through which the head of the screw projects, and said screw has a small flange, c, which is within the raeeway and nearits lower end, to prevent anylongitudinal movement of the screw. The inverted stepbearing c can, if desired, be formed wholly in one half of the hanger-plate, and thus avoid a joint. The inclined block d maybe longitudinally bored and tapped in line with the screw, so that when occupied by said screw the upper inclined surface of the block will be in close bearing-contact with the coincident inclined surface of the raceway, and therefore said raceway will bear all vertical strains; but I deem it best to provide the inclined block with two pairs of depending lugs, d', affording a longitudinal channel for the screw, and a lateral recess for the reception of a non-rotative nut, d2, to which the screw is tapped, as clearly illustrated. This feature of employing with the adjustable parts of a hanger a screw provided with a step-bearing and a guide-bearing, by which the strain on the screw is borne by an endwise thrust of the screw into its bearing is of consequence, even if the screw, as in this case, bears no vertical strain; but it is obviously of still more value in hangers wherein all or any portion of the weight of the door is carried by the screw. As here shown, the screw has merely to overcome the friction of the inclined contact-surfaces, and this friction is greater, of course, in raising the door than in lowering it; but in each ease,`

when the screw is turned, the degree of friction is such as to cause the screw to be thrust endwise into its step-bearing. The importance of thus transferring the strain on a screw from its head to its tip and in line with its axis, and having it bear a thrusting-strain as distinguished from a tensile strain, will be obvious when it is considered that in some hangers the entire weight of a heavy door is borne by the heads of two adjusting-screws, each hanger having one such screw, whereas if mounted in step and guide bearings, as described, the heads are wholly relieved from strain. It is, however, to be understood that in a hanger having the raceway at an angle of repose a headed screw may be employed without endangering the head thereof, because it is subjected to mere adjusting-strains; and therefore, under certain features of my invention, I do not preclude myself from employing a headed screw operating with tensile strain, provided it be so housed in the hanger that it cannot be moved longitudinally therein.

The axle-bearing shank is fiat, and Vnear its upper end is provided with an annular bearing, j', cut through from side to side, and hav ing a diameter equal to the aggregate of the diameter of the roller-axle g and two of the friction-rollers 71, so that when the latter are in position the roller-axle will be located centrally in said annular bearing. The hangerrollers t' have their inner sides or faces, fi', projected slightly beyond the inner line of the edges of their peripheries, and said sides or faces serve the two side walls of the IOO IIO

bearing f, thus forming a chamber for the friction-rollers. The roller-axle g is cast integrally with one of the rollers, and at its end is provided with a dowel-pin, g', which occupies a hole in the other roller, and the two rollers are secured together by means of a central bolt, k.

cally and the central bolt in place.

- ment.

It will be seen that the preparation of the annular bearing f involves only cheap and simple lathe-work or reaming, and that the inner faces of the rollers will require little, if any, machine-work, and that the axle-bearing g can be turned in a lathe-simultaneously with the rim of the roller of which it is a part, and that the assembling of the several parts can be rapidly and cheaply performed-as, for instance, the hanger-roller having the axle can be laid flatwise, with the aXle standing vertirlhe bearing strap or shank is then placed upon the hanger-roller. The friction-rollers are then dropped endwise in place and the outer hanger-roller placed in position, after which the nut k of the bolt is applied and turned up, thus locking all the parts firmly together. This novel construction of anti-friction bearings for double rollers is obviously independent of the adjustable features previously described.

In Figs. l0 and l1 I illustrate a hanger wherein the entire weight of the door is s'upported by the screw; but in accordance with one feature of my invention (as in the hangers having the inclined way) I have provided the adj usting-screw e with an inverted step-bearing, e', and a guide-bearing, e2, so that all the strain on the screw is resisted by an endwise thrust into the bearing e', and at the rear of said bearing is a vertical guide-slot for the reception of the axle-bearing shank, so that the latter is limited to a truly vertical move- Prior hangers of this type which have embodied adjusting screw-bolts have been s'o organized that the head of the screw bears all the weight of the door under a tensile strain and resists sa-id strain solely by the flange of the head. Thus while employing strong, heavy plates and their numerous fastening-screws,

and strong rails securely mounted, and heavy bearing-Shanks, the head of the screw constituted, in substance, a weak link in a strong chain, liable to break at any time, regardless of the bulk, weight, or strength of the other partsof the hanger, whereas with the inverted step-bearing as organized by me the supporting-weight can be borne by an integral portion of the hanger-plate in which the said bearing is formed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patentl. In an adjustable door-hanger, the combination of a raceway inclined at an angle of repose, the same being less than twenty degrees from a horizontal line, and a roller-bearing shank provided with a similarly-inclined block, substantially as described, whereby all vertical strains on said hanger, when in use, will be borne by said block and raceway, as set forth.

2. In an adjustable door-hanger, a hangerplate having an inclined raceway provided with a lateral supporting-flange, and with a guide-slot in the top thereof, in combination with a roller-bearing having a shank which occupies said guide-slot, and has an inclined block or lateral ilange in contact with the flange of the raceway, and is movablelongitudinally therein throughout the length of' the guide-slot, substantially as described.

3. In an adjustable door-hanger, the hangerplate and the roller-bearing coupled together by the inclined block and the door-supporting raceway, in combination with the adjustingscrew within said raceway, substantially as described, whereby the weight of the door is wholly borne by the raceway and the screw relieved from strain, as set forth.

4. In an adjustable door-hanger, the combination of the inclined sliding block, the inclined raceway, and the rotating adjustingscrew confined longitudinally in said raceway,

and connected to the block by means of the nut and its recess, substantially as described, whereby said block is adjustably moved longitudinally in the raceway by the rotation of the screw, and held by said screw in its various positions of adjustment.

- 5. In an adjustable door-hanger, a rotative adj usting-screw, in combination with ahangerplate having an inverted step-bearing for the upper end of said screw, substantially as described, whereby all strains to which said screw may be subjected will be borne with an endwise thrust toward its inverted step-bearing, as described.

6. The door-hanger plate constructed in two parts or sections oppositely recessed to form an inclined raceway, and having at the lower edge of said plate lateral flanges, substantially as described.

7. A door-hanger plate having a straight lower edge and lateral fianges, in combination with a detachable base-plate which is longitudinally slotted and laterally recessed for the reception of the flanged edge of the hangerplate, and provided with a locking-pin hole, and with screw-holes by which it may be at- IOO tached to the top edge of` a door, substantially EDWARD Y. MOORE.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL H. MOORE, V. MUMFORD MOORE. 

